It was a busy day at the adidas village in Portland, Oregon where the sportswear giant put on an all day event to showcase some of the very cool stuff that they'll be bringing to Brazil this coming summer. There was plenty of discussion about kits and boots (more on those later) throughout the day as the World Cup sponsor stressed its tradition of innovation in soccer.
adidas launches World Cup kits for Argentina, Russia, Japan, and Colombia
Argentina, Russia, Japan, and Colombia released their kits for the World Cup.
adidas sponsors the top four teams in FIFA's rankings, and they will be kitting them out in new home and away looks for the World Cup. The four teams in question are Spain, Germany, Argentina, and Colombia and all had their new home kits on show in Portland. We told you about the radical changes in Spain and Germany's kits yesterday, and the remaining teams are no different.
In addition to Argentina and Colombia's new home kits, adidas has also unveiled new home kits for Japan and Russia. Like Spain and Germany's, the new kits are 40% lighter than their 2012 equivalents with the shirts coming in it just 100 grams. The shirts are thin and light but also very durable, as the play test in Portland showed. On top of that, the new kit did a remarkably good job of keeping water out of the fabric with the rain drops that fell on us at adidas just beading up on the kit and sliding off without any trouble.
Argentina's new home shirt retains the famous sky blue and white vertical stripes but it's the little details that make this one special. Midway down the shirt, faint diagonal lines cut across the blue stripes, transitioning to a slightly darker shade of the blue and giving the shirt a very modern look. According to adidas, there is a "reflective visual effect simulating a Argentinean flag on top of a pole, waving in the wind."
Russia, on the other hand, will go dark for their new kit, ditching the bright red in their qualification look for a return to a crimson color that they had used back in 2010. The arms feature a wonderful flag detail that really ties the kit together and per adidas, the kit is inspired by “the great achievements of Soviet cosmonauts during 1960s, their results now displayed at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow. The Russian National Football team kit celebrates the pride all fans take in the national achievements and empowers players to make new feats, similar to their famous cosmonauts.”
Japan's new home kit is centered around the concept of "ENJIN" which is "the act of going into a huddle." The kit features Japan's traditional blue color with a major yet subtle detail that's front and center. Emanating from the badge are 11 lines that represent the directions of that each member of the team takes when they leave the "ENJIN" to face the opposition.
Finally, there’s Colombia’s new home kit that features their traditional yellow base color. The kit is all about the Colombian flag, combining that vibrant base color with red and blue accents around the shirt. The blue is prominent on the front with diagonal accents that run from top to bottom, which, according to adidas, represent “dynamism and speed.” The red takes center stage on the back of the kit, running across the back of the shirt.
That’s a lot of new stuff right there and it’s only a fraction of what adidas have in store for the build up to the World Cup. We still have new boots, away kits, and the official World Cup ball, the brazuca, to look forward to it. It’s going to be a busy few months.
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